Could that be the same Gordon Gibson who so strongly endorsed Jim Green,(lawn sign on his Shaugnessy mansion and all) for mayor when he last ran against Gordon Campbell for Vancouver's top job back in the early 1990's?

This is nothing but petty jealousy from a has been who wanted the senate seat for himself.

Is that the same Mr. Gibson whose wife Kilby is working full time on the Sam Sullivan campaign, and whose daughter is on the "youth wing" of the federal Liberal "machine" that her father calls so "polluted"? Shurley not!

Gordon Gibson Junior has been around a long time, ... almost as long now as the late Gordon Gibson Senior. I don't doubt he would love to be a Senator, but what I think he really wants is to be elected to something. He just hasn't found the right opening yet.

Shurely so! I am a staunch supporter of Sam Sullivan I believe he's the best person for the job - simple. I do not work "full time" for him - I have a job. My daughter to whom you refer is indeed a member of the "youth wing" of the Party but now lives in Victoria and is not a member of the NPA - and my husband's comments regarding the current state of the Federal Liberals (he was a former Leader of the BC Liberal Party and National Director of the Federal Party while I have been a card carrying Liberal for nearly 40 years and have seen a lot) are worth thinking about. Kilby Gibson

Sure, Gibson may be being petty, but what he said about Clark is still true.

without Mark Marissen's federal liberal troop, Clark won't even dare to run. Right now, my source told me the top priority of Young Liberal is to have Clark elected.

OK, so now we have a bunch of federal Liberals saying that they are working for Sam Sullivan. Which perhaps means that rather than having the federal Liberal "machine" behind her, Christy is being backed by the people she has met and made friends with over 20 years in politics.

Sounds positively diabolical. Imagine people who know and like you coming to your aid when you run for political office. Oooooooohhh!

Why is no one writing into the newspaper hollering about the fact that Sullivan's campaign manager is Colin Metcalfe, Stephen Harper's right hand man in BC. Where is the talk about the Conservative "machine" backing Sullivan. Is that because people think there is no Conservative machine left in BC anymore?

Just as it would be silly to descibe Sullivan's campaign as being run by a Conservative Machine it is silly to say that Clark's campaign is being run by a Liberal Machine.

Larry Campbell's Senate seat is a pure political payoff for supporting RAV. RAV is the greatest Liberal pork-barrel project yet and Mark Merissen (dear old Christy's husband) the cheif and highly paid lobbyest for RAv.

Just in whose interest is good old boy Mark lobbying for? Bombardier? SNC/Lavalin? How much has he been paid? Is Christy in a conflict of interest even running for mayor? Will the conflict of interest hanstring Christy in her ability to represent Vancouver on TransLink and GVRD boards?

What does Hammish say about this? Yes the poor wee lad she left politics for!

Gordon Gibson's editorial was a blow to Christy Clark because he is a federal Liberal and a longtime pro-Martin Liberal who cares passionately about this city. Paul Martin's 1990 leadership campaign held meetings at Gordon Gibson's house.
Clark clearly has the current federal Liberal machine behind her and she could win with all her instant members. But the race is getting closer because longtime Liberal NPAers no longer need to feel that they are being disloyal to the federal Liberal party by supporting Sam - a candidate who has worked hard for this city for the past 12 years.

There is absolutely no problem with individuals - of any political stripe -
helping out friends running for office. Christy has, no doubt, gained a loyal
following during her time in politics (and so has Mark Marissen), just as Sam
Sullivan has gained a following. The problem begins when it goes beyond
friends and becomes a partisan operation where individuals who have no
connection to the candidate are whipped into action.

Why are key people in the federal Liberal party, people with posts have nothing
to do with civic politics, working nearly full-time on Christy's campaign,
while being paid to do other jobs? Sam may have supporters from the
Conservative party, but he also has supporters from other parties. I'd
venture a guess that everyone working for him knows Sam and believes in Sam.
there is no party mechanism working for him, just individuals with ties to
assorted parties. With Christy, however, there is a concerted effort by
individuals who have little connection to Christy - being instructed to
drop their day-to-day jobs in order to campaign for Christy's nomination.
Those in the MRO some funded by the federal Liberal party and some by the
tax payer have been remarkably silent on their normal portfolios lately.
Young Liberal executive members seem to be doing a lot more Christy campaigning
than election readiness. Rumors have more dubious actions being implemented
against those who support the wrong candidate since when does
supporting a specific candidate in a race far removed from federal politics
equal treason within the federal Liberal party.

If this isn't a political machine at work, I don't know what is. With
friends like these democracy doesn?t need any enemies. This isn't
the first time the machine has worked in the face of democracy and one wonders
when the skeletons from nomination fights-past may begin haunting this race.
As a Liberal, let me be the first to say enough is enough.

The real story here is that Mark Marrissen not only covets but expects to be appointed to the Senate. In fact at his birthday party this summer he took great delight in arranging for his little band of young Liberal hangers on to refer to him as "Senator Marrissen" while Christy smiled on approvingly.

Christy is running for Mayor of Vancouver because over the past decade and a half it seems that it is a fundamental prerequisite for becoming Premier of BC. By the time she has finished a three year term as Mayor, Campbell will likely be headed off to retirement.

Watching the Marrisen machine in action is like watching the Borg as they absorb the unwitting, greedy and gullible into their machinations.

Resistance is futile, all will fall before their overweening ambition!

Katie:

These people that you refer to at the "MRO" whatever the hell that is, they aren't friends of either Marissen or Clark? These Young Liberals you refer to. They aren't inspired to work for a young, charismatic candidate?

You say they are being "ordered" to work? What proof do you have of that. Name one name of someone who is being "ordered" to volunteer on that campaign against their will.

In my experience something that sounds like a conspiracy theory is usually bullshit and I'm calling bullshit on you.

You sound like either a Conservative who is freaked out by the fact that the Federal Liberal party is making inroads into British Columbia or a Sullivan campaign plant here to spread silly rumours.

Either get specific or crawl back under your rock. Anyone can cast aspersions and innuendo like you just did.

Jerry asked: "...the fact that Sullivan's campaign manager is Colin Metcalfe, Stephen Harper's right hand man in BC. Where is the talk about the Conservative "machine" backing Sullivan. Is that because people think there is no Conservative machine left in BC anymore?"

Last time I checked, Harper's WeSt Party (Western Seperatist Party) had 23 of BC's 36 federal seats... Looks to me like a well oiled machine - at least from the outside.

MRO = Ministers Regional Office, the Cabinet's eyes and ears in BC, paid by tax-dollars...haha, how could anyone posting on this site NOT know that?

Good point mdawg, and you stole my thunder on that one. Incidentally, one of the MRO staffers with a Director title and a salary of at least $100,000 per year is former Star Candidate Bill Cunningham. Isn't that nice?

These internecine struggles between various Liberals look rather like Tory or NDP habits. Still, I think the fix is in for Christy to be the fall person in the Sam Sullivan nomination contest. In part, she's being setup for a big fall as punishment for her open disloyalty to Gordon Campbell.

Budd:

Is that the whir of black helicopters I hear? Nice conspiracy theory.